


Journeys End in Lovers Meeting

by HiddenTreasures



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Episode Fix-It: s04e13 Journey's End, F/M, Reunions, Romance, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-22 20:27:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9624131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenTreasures/pseuds/HiddenTreasures
Summary: After being separated shortly after agreeing to a marriage bond, the Doctor and Rose find their way back to each other and try to pick up their relationship where they left off—after saving the multiverse from a Dalek attack, of course.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chocolatequeen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocolatequeen/gifts).



Rose was flushed and breathing raggedly beneath him as he pillowed his head against her breasts. God, he loved making love with her. He’d loved making love to her before they’d added telepathy to their intimacy, but feeling her in his mind, literally infiltrating every thought… It was indescribable.

“Love you,” he mumbled, reluctantly lifting himself off of her.

He flopped heavily onto his back and opened his arms for her, humming happily when she crawled into them.

“Love you, too, Doctor,” she murmured, nuzzling her cheek atop his left heart.

Her mind buzzed blissfully around his, and he was loath to break the connection.

“Not yet?” she asked, recognizing the shift in his mind that meant he was about to dissolve their connection. “Just… not yet? I—I like having you here.”

The Doctor hummed happily at her shy admission.

“So do I, Rose,” he said earnestly. “More than you’ll ever know.”

They lapsed into silence, each of them basking in the love and warmth they were both exuding, until finally the Doctor broke the stillness.

“You know,” he said nonchalantly, carding his fingers through her hair. “There is a way for us to keep a more permanent mental connection. If that’s something you might want?”

“Yeah?” she asked, turning to look up at him. His mind felt nervous, now, and she tried to lessen that. She never wanted him to feel anxious or unsettled around her, so she focused on how much she loved him, and hoped he could feel even one iota of what she felt.

“Oh, _Rose_.”

His sharp gasp and trembling of his hands made her optimistic that she had succeeded, and she tilted her head to brush her lips across every patch of skin she could reach.

He rolled towards her, displacing her from his chest, and cradled her cheek in his palm to press a tender kiss to her lips. His mind flared in hers, and she gasped into his mouth when she felt the utter love and trust and happiness he was projecting.

“You-you were saying?” she prompted shakily as his lips grazed across her jaw and down her neck.

“Hmm?”

Rose broke out in goosebumps as his hot breath tickled her skin, and she bit back a moan as she tried to focus.

“You were saying we could have a more permanent connection?”

The Doctor froze, and some of the warmth of his mind chilled back to nervousness. Rose reached out to stroke his hair until his worries had calmed.

“Right, yes. Well, you see, my people were all telepathic,” he began, settling his head back against his pillow. “As you know. Obviously. And there was not only the physical aspect of a relationship—which they sort of looked down on anyway—but there was also a mental one. It was fairly rare, though, at least during my time on Gallifrey. You see, Gallifreyan relationships weren’t what you’re used to. They were built around societal stability and advancement. A match was made because it was logical, not because the two parties actually loved each other. But there were stories of the rare few who were matched out of love, and formed what was called a marriage bond. It’s a literal melding of the minds. What we’re sharing right now—” His mind brushed warmly against hers, and Rose shivered at the tenderness behind the caress. “Well, a marriage bond would be… _more_.”

The Doctor must have felt her incredulity—how could anything be more than what they were already sharing?—and he chuckled.

“What we’re sharing now still leaves us some semblance of privacy in our heads,” he explained. “We have our individual thoughts and emotions that we have to consciously choose to project to each other. Well, except when we’re overwhelmed by a very strong emotion.” The Doctor’s touch on her mind turned undeniably sultry and passionate, and Rose shivered when she felt a deep ache swoop through her stomach.

“It sounds beautiful,” Rose began, and she hesitated before admitting, “but it sounds invasive. Like we’d have no privacy anymore.”

“Well, it’s sort of meant to be like that,” the Doctor said, rubbing a hand across his jaw as he stared at their ceiling. “I mean… it’s the epitome of intimacy. But if you don’t want…”

He trailed off with a shrug that broke Rose’s heart. She could feel the yearning he was radiating beneath his nonchalance.

“But you want a bond like that with me,” Rose said.

“What we’ve been sharing has been more than I could have ever hoped for,” he answered. He leaned over and pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead. “Honestly. Being able to share in your mind like this… being able to make love to you… it’s perfect. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want you in my head on a more permanent basis. However, I will _not_ bond with you if you don’t want it. And don’t you dare agree to it just because you think it will make me happy, Rose. A marriage bond is permanent, only broken by the death of one of the partners.”

Rose nodded, and she bit her lip against her next question. But she had to know… “And you’re not just asking because of yesterday, are you?”

The Doctor had given Rose her annual check-up, and when he’d analyzed a sample of her blood, he’d been astounded by what he’d seen. After nearly an hour of the Doctor poking and prodding her as he took various other samples from her, she finally got him to assure her she wasn’t dying. Quite the opposite—he’d found that her cells were decaying exponentially slower than they should, and that she was riddled with Huon particles and Artron energy, presumably left over from when she’d merged with the TARDIS.

“No, Rose,” he vowed fiercely. He cradled her jaw in his palm and brushed his thumb across her cheekbone. “We’ve been intimate for nearly six months… the very first time you allowed me into your mind, I knew it was only a matter of time before I asked you for a more complete bond.”

Rose nodded and nuzzled her nose into his chest. Her eyes fluttered shut as she was shrouded in his contentment, and she threw hers into the mix to make a cocktail of lethargy. It felt so right to have the Doctor in her mind. Even the first time they’d tried it, the alienness of their telepathic connection had disappeared almost instantly, leaving behind a comfort and familiarity that made Rose ache with love for her Doctor.

“There are still ways to keep your mind private,” the Doctor murmured, his voice slurring slightly as he tugged their duvet around them. “I could teach you. And there’s always the common courtesy of allowing your partner their privacy. If there’s anything else you want to know about a marriage bond, please ask me. Or the TARDIS. I’m sure she could guide you to a whole shelf of books in the library. But like I said, don’t agree just to appease me. I’m more than content with the way things are between us now.”

Rose nodded into his chest, feeling a nervous anticipation creep over her. The more he talked about the bond, the more her yearning grew. She loved feeling him in her mind now, and had done ever since they first added telepathy to their relationship.

“Can we stop by Mum’s later today?” she asked, strumming her fingers up and down his ribs.

“Your mum’s?” he asked with a wrinkled nose.

“Yeah. I suppose I ought to tell her I’m engaged, don’t you think?”

Rose held her breath as she watched the Doctor’s emotions play out across his face, and across her mind. They morphed from confused shock to tentative hope and back again as he blinked rapidly.

“You want—?” he squeaked.

“I want,” she confirmed, reaching up to cup his cheek as she tried to project to him the surety she was feeling. “I want that so much, Doctor.”

His breath caught in his throat, and suddenly his lips were on hers. They were hot and uncoordinated, and Rose giggled into the kiss as she tried to assert some semblance of order.

“Oh, Rose,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around her shoulders to tug her closer. “Oh, love…”

He buried his face into her neck and Rose was nearly overwhelmed by the utter joy he was projecting. Tears prickled behind her eyes as she felt how loved she was by him.

“So loved,” he whispered raggedly, pressing his lips to her neck. “So completely, utterly, eternally loved.”

Rose turned her head and caught his lips in a kiss.

oOoOo

They made it to Jackie’s eventually, for a quick little trip to check in on her after the Elton debacle, and to share their good news.

“And I got you this,” Rose said, pulling the Bazoolium out of her pocket. While her mum still fretted over her travels, Rose found that Jackie could be quite easily placated with little trinkets she found across the universe. She had hoped a new gift for her mum might butter her up before she and the Doctor shared their news…

“I’ve got a surprise for you and all,” Jackie exclaimed, barely looking at the weather divinator Rose handed her.

“Oh, I get her Bazoolium, she doesn't even say thanks,” Rose mumbled. The Doctor giggled beside her, and she couldn’t help but share a smile with him.

She and the Doctor followed her mother into the kitchen to see what surprise she had for them, even though they were itching to get back to the TARDIS so they could finally complete the bond they were both so eager for.

And that’s when their quick little jaunt to Jackie’s turned into the worst day of their lives. That was when they discovered the ghosts that weren’t ghosts, and Torchwood, and the Cybermen and the Daleks.

But even when it seemed that all hope had been lost, Rose had faith. She believed in her Doctor, and in them. She believed they would both survive the day, and save the Earth while they were at it.

She stayed with the Doctor, reaffirming her promise of forever—“I made my choice a long time ago, and I’m never going to leave you.”—and Rose was so proud of him when he nodded at her and let her stay with him to man the computers.

It was all going perfectly…

…Until it wasn’t. Minutes passed in a blur of hazy white and echoing screams and the insurmountable tug from the Void they’d opened.

And what should have been the happiest day of their life ended with them both making the forty-five storey walk down Torchwood Tower without the other, both trapped on the wrong side of a transdimensional white wall.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where we get to the good stuff: the reunion, the smut, the bonding!

“Yes, you are,” the Doctor cajoled. “You’re brilliant.”

He smiled at Donna, but her eyes had glazed over, lost in her retreating memories of that pocket universe.

“She said that,” she said distantly.

“Who did?” he asked gently.

“That woman…” Donna shook her head. “I can’t remember.”

“Well, she never existed now.

“No,” Donna said, scrunching her face as she tried to catch the memories that were slipping quickly through her grasp. “But she said the stars… She said the stars are going out.”

“Yeah, but that world’s gone,” the Doctor soothed.

“No,” Donna insisted, “but she said it was all worlds. Every world. She said the darkness is coming. Even here.”

“Who was she?” the Doctor asked, his curiosity piqued as a sense of foreboding crashed over him.

“I don’t know.”

“What did she look like?”

“She was… blonde?”

“What was her name?” After Donna shook her head and denied knowledge, the Doctor demanded again, “Donna, what was her name?”

His hearts were pounding in his chest. It couldn’t be… But it sounded like… What if…?

He wanted to growl in frustration, to shake Donna’s shoulders to try and jar her memories back into place. Or even take a quick peek at them himself…

“But she told me to warn you. She said two words.”

The Doctor begged for the words, already knowing what Donna was about to say.

“Bad Wolf.”

His ears were ringing and his body felt deprived of oxygen, and he was vaguely aware Donna was asking him to explain, but he pushed up from the table and ran outside. He scoured the busy marketplace, hoping to see a flash of blonde hair.

No long-lost blonde lovers were awaiting him, but the words _Bad Wolf_ were. They were everywhere, written across every surface, and when he sprinted to the TARDIS, the words were there too. And inside, the TARDIS was tinged red with the emergency lights and the cloister bell was tolling, all of which snapped him out of his frantic search for Rose and refocused him on the fact that there was a potentially multiverse-ending catastrophe on his hands.

“Doctor, what is it?” Donna panted, having run after him. “What’s Bad Wolf?”

“It’s the end of the universe,” he said grimly, before he quickly piloted them to Earth.

He breathed a sigh of relief when it looked just like any other day. A Saturday, according to the milkman they found in a thoroughly ordinary suburban street.

“So, I just met Rose Tyler?” Donna asked as the Doctor continued to inspect their surroundings.

“Yeah,” he bit out as a hot pit of jealousy burned in his stomach. _Where is she?_

“But she’s locked away in a parallel world.”

“Exactly. If she can cross from her parallel world to your parallel world, then that means the walls of the universe are breaking down, which puts everything in danger. Everything. But how?”

He tugged at his hair as he turned back to the TARDIS. Something was happing, or about to happen, or perhaps already happened… If Rose could cross the walls of the dimension, and her universe was ahead of his, who knew what sort of state Pete’s World was in.

He tried to shove aside his fear and anxiety as he typed a few commands into the computer, scanning for any spatio-temporal disturbances, whether from Rose or from whatever was causing the breakdown of the walls of the universe.

“The thing is, Doctor,” Donna interrupted softly. “No matter what’s happening—and I’m sure it’s bad, I get that—but Rose is coming back. Isn’t that good?”

The Doctor glanced up at Donna, and even though he was looking at her, she wasn’t the woman he was seeing. In his mind’s eye, he could see Rose perfectly as she was on the last day he saw her—minus her hologram in his empty TARDIS. He saw her splayed out beneath him, cheeks flushed and eyes bright from making love and from the happiness of agreeing to be his bondmate, and letting him be hers in return.

He locked up that memory as tight as he could. He needed to focus now.

“Yeah,” he managed to whisper, finally letting his excitement win out over his dread. Yes, it would be a very good thing to have Rose home again.

These last three years without her had been agony, and despite the fact that it appeared he had a multi-universal crisis on his hand, he couldn’t be anything other than ecstatic at the possibility of seeing her again.

But before he could begin deducing what was happening to make the walls of the universe wear thin, the TARDIS began rumbling beneath his feet. The Doctor frowned at his ship. They were parked; they shouldn’t be moving.

“What’s happened to you, eh?” he asked, patting the console. He glanced at the scanner, and furrowed his brow when it read that they were in the same space-time coordinates as when they’d landed a few minutes ago. Well, sort of. They were still on Earth… but they were half way across the universe too.

“That can’t be right!” he muttered, slapping his palm down on the computer, hoping the monitor would correct itself.

“Doctor!”

Donna had pulled open the door and the Doctor could see the little suburban neighborhood was shrouded in darkness. Hadn’t it just been daytime two minutes ago? He sprinted down the ramp and out the door. He whirled around wildly, paying no heed to the baffled milkman they’d spoken to a moment ago.

“Oh, this is not good,” he groaned, his gaze jumping across the various celestial bodies in the sky. “This is very much not good.”

“Yup, I think I’d have to agree with you there.” The Doctor wheeled around at the familiar voice, and his breath hitched when he saw the woman he’d been dreaming of for three years. “Well, unless the Earth has adopted a few other planets since I’ve been away?”

The Doctor’s legs were moving forward without him realizing it, sending him hurtling towards his Rose. His Rose, who he’d never thought he’d see again.

And she was moving towards him, too, grinning that beautiful grin. Her body collided with his, and he heard her breath whoosh from her lungs as she flung her arms around his neck. He held her close as he picked her up and twisted her around from side to side, delighting in her joyous giggle and relishing the feel of her in his arms.

“Rose,” he murmured into her neck. “Oh, Rose, my Rose!”

“Doctor,” she sighed, burrowing her face closer to his neck as she breathed in the scent she’d been dreaming of for nine years as he continued rasping her name into her ear.

Her feet touched the ground again and the Doctor pulled back only the distance needed so that he could look her in the eye. His eyes darted across her face as he lifted a trembling hand to cradle her cheek. She nuzzled into his palm, hardly daring to believe that she was here with him. She’d been searching for so long.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered, covering his hand with hers and giving his fingers a quick squeeze.

“Oh, Rose, I’ve missed you too,” he breathed, leaning down to rest his forehead against hers.

Her breath caught in her throat as utter happiness swelled through her, and she knew she was picking up on the Doctor’s emotions. She shivered when he extended his thumb to brush across her bottom lip, and she had to restrain herself from nipping at the pad of his thumb. She couldn’t, however, resist puckering out her lips to press a kiss to his finger.

“Oh, Rose,” he murmured just moments before his lips slotted over hers.

She sighed against his lips and returned the pressure of the kiss. His nose was smooshed against her cheek as he deepened the kiss; one of his hands dropped to her waist while the other wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her as close as she could get. The feeling of his lips against hers sent fire searing through her veins and she buried her fingers in his hair, recommitting the texture of it to memory.

He groaned against her mouth as his hands fisted into her jacket, and he was just about to let his fingers drop to her bum when…

“Right, while I’m glad Space Man here has finally found you, d’you think you could save the reunion shag until after we figure out why there are suddenly a dozen planets in the sky?!”

They popped apart with a gasp, and Rose felt her cheeks flame. She peeked up at the Doctor, and was delighted in his thoroughly-snogged hedgehog hair and the glazed look of pleasure in his eyes.

He blinked rapidly a few times as he quickly reached up to fix his hair.

“Quite right,” he said, clearing his throat of the lingering rasp. “Let’s get back to the TARDIS, shall we?

The Doctor grabbed Rose’s hand and slotted his fingers between hers, and oh, the gesture felt just as familiar as it did three years ago. He couldn’t help but bring their joined hands to his lips as he walked her back to the TARDIS.

“Oh, I’ve missed you,” Rose murmured, brushing her fingers across the central console as the TARDIS hummed and flashed her lights.

“She missed you too,” the Doctor said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Almost as much as I did. I’m so glad you’re home, Rose.”

He leaned down and pressed the gentlest of kisses to her lips, and as much as he wanted to pull Rose flush against him and resume their snog from earlier, Donna was still in the room with them, and the universe was still in peril.

He pressed a series of soft parting kisses to her lips before he leaped over to the scanner.

“Right, so someone had to have moved the planet,” he muttered, pulling his glasses from his inside pocket. “Planets don’t just hop across the galaxy whenever they want. So…”

Rose crossed her arms in front of her chest as she leaned her bum against the console, content to watch him work.

“I’m glad to see you, Rose,” Donna said softly, coming up to stand beside Rose.

“I’m glad to see you, too, Donna,” Rose said. “After that pocket universe… Well. I’m glad to see you.”

Donna offered a half smile as she stood in silence as the Doctor mumbled to himself.

“Aha!” he shouted suddenly, making the two women jump.

Rose skipped across the console to peer over his shoulder, but the screen was full of numbers and that circular writing she couldn’t read, so she waited for the Doctor to translate.

“Just about finished…” His tongue poked out of the corner of his mouth as he pressed a few buttons. “No. No way…”

_Exterminate… Exterminate… Exterminate…_

The Doctor’s hearts seemed to stop has he heard the shrieking cry of his oldest enemy echoing around his TARDIS.

“No,” Rose whispered. “No! We destroyed them! We-we sent them to hell!”

“They came back,” the Doctor croaked, staring at the monitor where he could see the blinking dots of the Daleks flying nearer and nearer to Earth.

Why them? Why did it always have to be the bloody Daleks? He clenched his hands into a fist in an attempt to stop himself from piloting Rose away from there. The last time they’d fought the Daleks, he’d thought she was lost to him forever. Now that he got her back he was loath to put her in any more danger. He couldn’t lose her again. He couldn’t. He _wouldn’t_.

“What do we do?” Donna asked quietly, touching the Doctor’s shoulder to try and pull him from his fear.

“I don’t know,” he murmured numbly. “I don’t—”

Rose covered his tight fist with her hand, stroking his skin to try and calm him enough so he could think of a plan. His hand automatically unclenched from its fist and flipped over so that he could hold her hand.

“Breathe, Doctor,” she instructed, stroking her thumb against the back of his. “We need a plan. The Daleks have got to have some sort of ship nearby, yeah? So that they could align all of the planets properly?”

The Doctor blinked for a moment, and the glazed look in his eye was suddenly gone.

“How many planets are out there?” he asked, glancing from Rose to Donna.

“Well it’s not like it came with a guest list,” Donna huffed.

Rose stifled a grin as she saw the Doctor roll his eyes. She liked Donna.

“Right, let me just…” He kept Rose’s hand firmly tucked in his as he redirected the TARDIS’s scanners. A schematic of their location popped into view, and surrounding the Earth were twenty-six other planets. And sitting directly in the center of all of the planets was the Dalek mothership.

“We need to get on board,” Rose said firmly. “We can’t figure out what they’re up to from down here.”

“Yeah,” the Doctor said reluctantly. “Yeah.”

He nodded resolutely, and he brought Rose’s hand to his lips to press a kiss to her knuckles. He let her hand drop as he carefully adjusted the coordinates that would land them inside the Dalek fleet.

oOoOo

Several hours and a Dalek genocide later, the Doctor carefully turned each dial, sending him and Rose back into the Vortex. The adrenaline was still coursing through his veins, making him jittery and on-edge, despite the fact that the danger had passed. And the other reason for his trembling hands was currently standing beside him.

“Doctor,” she murmured, brushing her fingers across his forearm.

He shuddered under her touch, and spun around to face her. He pulled her in for a hug and held her as close to him as she could be. Things had gotten too close for comfort when she’d insisted she come with him to use the biological inversion catalyzer against the Daleks. Everything had gone without a hitch, but having Rose even in the same ship as the Daleks had given him hearts palpitations. And having her be involved in any sort of genocide, even the Daleks’, was a position he’d never wanted her to be in.

Sensing his lingering distress, Rose looped her arms around his neck, holding him just as tight, and he closed his eyes to nuzzle his cheek into her hair.

“I’ve missed you so much, Rose,” he whispered, swaying them lightly from side to side.

“I missed you so much, too, Doctor.”

“How-how long has it been?” he asked quietly.

After they had dropped off Donna with a promise to pick her up in a few weeks, they’d made a quick journey to the parallel world to collect Jackie, Pete, and Tony, who were coming back with Rose to the prime universe.

The Doctor had been expecting Tony to be a toddler, but when Pete and a school-aged boy exited the car, the Doctor’s hearts broke in his chest when he realized more time had passed for Rose than for him.

“A tick over nine years,” she admitted.

He sighed in sympathy and regret as he tightened his hold around her. “I’m so sorry, Rose.”

“S’not your fault,” she said firmly, pulling back to look at him. “And I’m home now. And I’m never leaving you again.”

The Doctor swallowed down the words that if it had happened once, it could happen again. Instead, he nodded and leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead. His lips made a circuit around her face, kissing every inch of her skin until he finally let his lips touch hers.

Rose whined in displeasure when he kept the kiss chaste, but he murmured, “Bedroom? Please? I want to give our room a happy memory again.”

Rose’s heart broke for him. When she’d been first trapped in the parallel world with nothing but her TARDIS key, her mobile, and his psychic paper, she’d resented the fact that she had so few mementos of her life with him. But he’d had a whole TARDIS full of her things, daily reminders of all he had lost.

She nodded and took his hand in hers.

He guided her down the hallway he hadn’t walked in almost three years—having chosen to move back into the room he’d used before he and Rose had chosen their own—and to their bedroom. When he eased open the closed door, he was overtaken by a wave of nostalgia, and a yearning for the last three years to have never happened.

At Rose’s sharp intake of breath, he turned to face her and was surprised to see the tears in her eyes.

“I thought I’d never see this room again,” she whispered, breathing raggedly. “I thought I’d never see _you_ again. Forever, Doctor. I have centuries ahead of me, and I thought I would have to spend them _alone!_ And then the stars started going out, and I was trying to find you. Nearly two years of Cannon jumps! And when I finally thought I made it home, you were… you’d…”

She broke off on a sob, and the Doctor’s hearts clenched as he tugged her in for a hug. He had no idea what had happened in Donna’s pocket universe, but from Rose’s reaction, it hadn’t been good. He’d have to see if he could get her to open up about that later.

“Shhh,” he murmured, holding her tight. “Shhh, but you came back. You came back to me, you brilliant, wonderful, _fantastic_ woman! You’re home now, and you’ll never be alone. I promise. I _promise_. I love you.”

A sob caught in her throat as she gripped her hands into the back of his suit jacket.

“I love you, too,” she choked out. “God, I love you!”

The Doctor’s hearts swelled with warmth and love for her, and he ached to make love to her and show her how much she meant to him, and how grateful he was to have her back again.

He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. He tentatively swiped his tongue across her bottom lip, asking permission for entry, which she immediately granted. His knees went weak with pleasure as her tongue slid against his, hot and wet, and her hands went to his hair.

He groaned as she scratched his scalp, sending arousal pulsing south. He rubbed his growing erection against the zip of her jeans, pressing forward to hopefully give her a taste of friction.

She gasped, and he took advantage of the opportunity to trail his lips down her jaw. He hummed into her skin as her scent and taste overwhelmed his sense, making him throb with need and desire.

“Can I make love to you?” he murmured into her neck, his fingers playing with the zip of her jacket.

“God, yes,” she moaned, continuing to massage his scalp as he nipped at her skin.

He pressed a parting kiss to the pink mark he’d been making on her neck, pulling back to more efficiently rid them of clothes. Frustration coiled in his stomach as he watched more of her skin become bared to his gaze, and he was torn between continuing to undress and grabbing her in his arms to hold her close.

He hastily rid himself of the last of his layers, tossing his pants to the side just in time to watch her peel her knickers down her thighs. His mouth went dry as he looked her up and down. She was even more beautiful than he remembered, and his skin tingled with the need to touch her.

“You’re gorgeous,” he murmured. He stepped up to her and settled his hands on her hips, rubbing the soft, smooth skin with his thumbs. “My beautiful Rose.”

He slowly walked her backwards until she was close enough to shimmy onto their bed, and his gut curled in anticipation at the familiar picture it made. Oh, he was so ready to make love to her again.

He crawled onto the mattress after her, bouncing more the necessary just to make her laugh (and if he delighted in the way it made her breasts jiggle, well, who was he to ignore the added bonus?)

Rose let her thighs fall open to give him room to kneel between them. He braced himself on his forearms as he let his body come into full contact with hers: her breasts scraped across his chest; her legs wrapped around his hips; her feet teased at his bum and thighs. He groaned in pleasure when his erection settled against her moist heat, making him twitch his hips forward for more.

He balanced his weight on one arm as his other hand traced lines up her ribs before covering her breast. He sighed in response to her mewl of pleasure as he played with her breast, rolling it around in his fingers as his thumb tickled across her puckered nipple. He dropped his mouth down to her other breast to give it the same attention its twin was receiving.

Arousal burned through him until he could hardly stop the rutting of his hips. He needed to be inside of her now.

“R-ready?” he asked, pressing kisses across her breasts has he dropped his hand down to his cock.

“Almost.”

He froze. _Almost? Was she not…?_

Rose’s hands, which had been skating across his back and bum, came to rest at his cheeks.

“Can we—like before?” she asked quietly, her fingertips brushing across his temples.

He sucked in a quick breath as a shiver of anticipation rippled down his spine. “You want—?”

She nodded, and he moved his hand from his erection to hover near her temples.

“Please?” she croaked. “On our last day together, I agreed to a marriage bond with you. I thought I would have you in my head forever, once we made it home. Losing that possibility hurt almost as much as losing you.”

He stroked her cheeks tenderly; he had been utterly devastated about losing the opportunity of a bond with Rose, too.

“And would you… do you still… I mean, it’s been three years… _nine_ years for you…”

Rose turned her head to press a kiss to his palm. “Nothing has changed for me Doctor. I still want you as much as I did nine years ago.”

The Doctor smiled and leaned down to brush his lips across hers. “Me too. After, though. I promise. Ready?”

Rose nodded and pressed her fingertips to his temples. She nearly sobbed when she felt his mind slip against hers, soothing an ache she never realized was there. His breath hitched at the mental connection, and she felt him trembling above her as she was bathed in his complete and unending love for her.

She’d nearly forgotten how good this felt, to be joined so intimately with him.

“Me too,” he bit out, groaning when he felt how aroused she was, and how much she loved him. “Gods, Rose, you feel so good!”

The Doctor rested his forehead against hers as he tried to regain control of himself. Her undying love for him was just as potent as it was three years ago, and he was so humbled that this beautiful woman below him loved him so wholly and unconditionally.

“My Doctor,” she whispered, stretching up to catch his lips in hers.

Their lips moved leisurely across each other’s, with them both trying to suckle at the other’s bottom lip and laughing when their teeth, tongues, and noses got in the way.

“Oh, I love you,” he whispered, dropping his hand to his cock again.

“Love you, too,” she murmured, nodding at his mental query.

The Doctor settled the tip of his erection at her entrance and slowly pushed forward. He gritted his teeth as stars sparked behind his eyes at the sheer pleasure of being inside her. He could feel her relief and pleasure as well, creating a cocktail of hormones that was utterly intoxicating.

He carefully set a slow rhythm to let them both adjust; it had been a long time for both of them, and even longer for Rose. He trailed his lips and tongue across the valley of her breasts before he nipped softly at the sides of her breasts. She moaned at the attention, and he grinned in satisfaction as he could feel exactly how good it was for her.

His smugness didn’t last long, though, when she squeezed her muscles around him and moved her hands back to his scalp. He shuddered in pleasure when she scraped her nails through his hair and pressed her feet into his bum, spurring him on faster.

His belly swooped, and Rose’s cries increased in pitch as they both tumbled closer to the edge. The Doctor gritted his teeth as he felt Rose’s arousal spike, sending him careening towards completion faster than even their first time together. He strangled their sheets in his fists as his hips jerked forward with little coordination as he frantically chased his release while trying to bring Rose to hers.

His mind also sought completion, as it burrowed deeper and deeper into the depths of Rose’s mental landscape. He was vaguely aware that he was beginning to initiate a bond with her, and that she was accepting, and he choked out a whimper as he tried to withdraw. Taking a partner as a bondmate was supposed to be the happiest, most romantic moment of the couple’s lives—it wasn’t supposed to be formed mid-shag as they were lost in the throes of passion.

_Please, Doctor_ , she begged, holding him closer physically and mentally. Her arms and legs wrapped around his shoulders and hips as her mind grabbed hold of his in what was now the first step of the formation of a marriage bond.

_Rose, I can’t stop!_ he warned.

_Don’t stop, Doctor. Please, don’t stop!_

He could feel her desire threading through to him. He could feel her muscles gripping him tightly as a hot knot coiled tighter deep inside her, desperate to be set loose.

_Rose, we’re about to make a bond,_ he whispered raggedly, trying with all his might to disentangle their minds, but that was just as hard as stopping their coupling.

_I know, Doctor. I can feel it. Can’t you feel it? It’s beautiful—you’re beautiful—but I can’t seem to finish it. I don’t know what I’m doing. I need your help._

_Are you sure?_ he asked, needing her to be completely positive. He didn’t want her to regret a bond between them in five minutes’ time after the euphoric rush wore off.

_I could never regret anything between us,_ she growled fiercely, digging her nails into his back. _My only regret is that I couldn’t hold on to my lever for just half a minute longer. If I had, we would already be married. I’ve been waiting nine years for you Doctor. Please don’t make me wait any longer. I love you so much. Forever._

The Doctor leaned down and pressed a sloppy kiss to her lips as he stopped trying to hold himself back. Rose’s relief was palpable, and he giggled giddily into her shoulder before the sound choked off on a moan as Rose squeezed her muscles tightly around him.

_And I might actually implode if you don’t make me come in the next ten seconds._

_Can make you come in five,_ he grunted as the ache low in his belly deepened in the familiar warning. _Come with me, Rose. And just let everything happen. Let me in. Let me… Ohhhh…_

The Doctor gritted out her name and pressed his forehead to hers. A rush of pleasure stunned his senses, doubled as it was by Rose’s. Heat boiled up from deep within and seared through his veins as he felt his cock pulsing deep inside Rose, while her muscles throbbed around him in time with her cries.

The mental pleasure he felt was overwhelming. Rose’s presence deepened more than he ever thought possible as both of their minds expanded to encompass the other. They were like two bubbles, carefully being pressed together, bending and molding around each other until finally, _finally_ , they were able to merge as one.

The Doctor gasped out a moan as his mind rippled; it suddenly wasn’t just his mind, it was Rose’s, too—it was _theirs_. And it was beautiful. His eyes rolled in the back of his head at the sheer physical and mental pleasure he was feeling; it was far superior to anything he had ever experienced before, and he never wanted it to end.

_Oh, Rose_ , he cried, feeling hot tears of ecstasy welling in his eyes. _Oh, love._

But she was quiet in his mind. Not silent, but not as active as it should be, and his hearts started to pound uncomfortably, pulling him out of his bliss.

_Rose?_ He wrenched his eyes open and nearly had a hearts attack when he saw her eyes were closed.

“Rose?” he whimpered aloud, stroking her face. _Oh, gods, what have I done?_ “Rose, please. Please!”

Just before he was completely consumed in his panic, her mind brushed soothingly across his, calming him. He felt weak with relief when her eyes finally fluttered open a few seconds later.

_Rose, are you all right, love?_ He quickly skipped around in their mind, examining her half of the bond to make sure he hadn’t caused any serious damage to her mind.

_I’m fine,_ she assured, reaching up to cup his cheeks. _That’s got to be a record… An orgasm so intense, it knocked me unconscious_.

She grinned up at him with her tongue between her teeth, and the Doctor couldn’t help but laugh.

_You scared me,_ he admitted, nuzzling his nose against hers. _Perhaps forging a bond mid-orgasm wasn’t my brightest idea…_

_I wouldn’t trade it for the world,_ she said earnestly, idly stroking his hair back from his forehead as she let him see how much she loved him, and how grateful she was for their new bond.

_Are you sure you’re all right?_ he asked, inspecting the bond again. But it looked perfect. It _felt_ perfect, like it was always meant to be.

_Never been better_.

The Doctor hummed happily and curled himself around his bondmate. His _bondmate!_ He giggled into her skin, overwhelmed with an emotion too strong for words—even ‘joy’ didn’t seem to do it justice.

Rose chuckled softly. _I know what you mean. You feel so… so…_

Words escaped her, but there was no need for them. The Doctor could plainly feel everything she was feeling, just as she could feel his emotions. She was projecting such a deep mixture of contentment, satisfaction, love, and safety.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, so relieved to be able to do so once more. It had been a very long and lonely three years. And he could feel the heartbreak rolling off of her as he also shared her grief of being without him for nine years.

_Never again_ , he vowed fiercely, planting a series of kisses across her brow.

_Together,_ she reaffirmed. _Forever_.

_Forever with you, Rose Tyler,_ he murmured, closing his eyes as his own lethargy was added to Rose’s. His mind’s eye could see the golden web of their timelines sprawling out endlessly before them. Two threads that had once been separated, but no more. _I quite like the sound of that._


End file.
